CIVIC WELCOME

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 102, 30 March 1926, Page 4

CIVIC WELCOME

TO GOVERNOR-GENERAL

GREAT SOLDIER HONOURED;

THEIR EXCELLENCIES’ TRIBUTE

Favoured as'it was by glorious weather, the civic welcome accorded the Governor-General (Sir Charles . Fergusson) and Lady Alico Fergusson in the Square yesterday afternoon, was most largely attended. By the time the V,ice-Regal party left their hotel to walk to the band, rotunda a huge crowd had assembled. En route His Excellency inspected the guard of horn our of High School cadets under Cap' tain LI. J. Thompson and congratulated them on their- military, bearing and parade efficiency. In company with the Mayor (Mr F. J. Nathan), who wore his chain of office, and Colonel G. Powles, colonel-commandant of the Central Military Command, the Vice-Regal party continued on through the gardens to join the official party on the band rotunda. There borough councillors, Messrs J. A. Nash and J. Linklater, M.P/s, Mesdames J. A. Nash and F. J. Nathan, the president of the Chamber of Commerce (Mr H. L. Young) and other prominent citizens, including a number of ladies, were assembled.

Civilians stood bareheaded and those in Uniform at the salute as the Na- . tional Anthem was played by the Muni- ) cipal Band. , MAYOR’S ADDRESS. ’ Addressing the gathering, the Mayor ■ oxpressed tho pleasure of the citizens , at having this official visit .from Their ( Excellencies. They welcomed Sir Charles not only, as the King’s representative in this Dominion —and lie j desired His Excellency to convey to His Majesty the loyalty and devotion j of the people—but also as a soldier distinguished in the service of the Empire. All the more cordial was the welcome because it was felt that Their Excellencies wero almost New Zea- 1 landers. Some of those present re- 1 tained the kindliest recollections of His Excellency’s father’s term in New , Zealand in the high office now filled by Sir Charles. The people of New Zealand, too, remembered .with grati- 1 (ication the service of Hey Excellency’s 1 father as Governor in New Zealand. It might not be known to many of | those present, continued the Mayor, that His Excellency served through the whole of the last Great War from 1914, and that he was with the British forces in the retreat from Mons. He had been promoted to the command of the 17th corps of the Third Army, with which the New Zealand Division served, and participated in the victorious advance of 1918. “Because Your Excellency lias had an early experience of New Zealand, and was in command of our men who served overseas, the welcome is all the more cordial and whole-hearted,” said Mr Nathan.

GROWTH OF BOROUGH.

It might interest , the GovernorGeneral to know something about tho growth of the borough of Palmerston North, said the Mayor.- The municipality was not yet quite 50 years old us a borough. Its first railway communication with tbe outside world was in 1873 by means of a tramline to Foxton port, the trucks being drawn by horses. Three years later a lino of steel rails was laid down and an ordinary steam railway servico was established. In 1877 railway communication with Wanganui was afforded, and a line to Wellington was completed m 1887. It was 1891, however, before trains ran to Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast districts. From that the Governor-General would be enabled readily to appreciate the progress Palmerston North | had made. . , The Mayor directed attention to the beautiful square in the centre of tho town, pointing out that, within tho recollection of many of those present, its environs had been all covered with dense bush, while at a later date the railway station had been close by where the function was taking place. In those days tho one excitement in Palmerston North was to welcome the train when it came in and to farewell it on departing. The municipality today took a justifiable pride in its Square, parks, play areas and the Esplanade, and it was interesting to recollect the time when the first-named was used as a dumping ground for the sweepings of the streets, its only, ornamentation, if tho term might be used, being some ill-grown and ill-shaped macrocarpa trees.

OUR DIPLOMATIC CORPS. Attached to the Vice-Regal office, continued the Mayor, were the importance and pomp, if ho might say so, oi such an eminent position in the service of tho Empire, but probably one did not contemplate often enough tlie devotion -and self-sacrifice • its occupancy involved. A Governor-General had to give up his home and associations to travel to the ends of the Empire at the call of duty from Ins King, and it was to this body of men of tho diplomatic corps of the nation that tho Britisher liad to render thanks tor the growth and continuation of the Empire. One had to thank them for tho creation and maintenance of a Giorough understanding between the units of Empire, and to them was owed a debt which could never be Pa The parents of Palmerston North appreciated to the full Their Excellencies’ interest in the children and their action in visiting each individual SC The Mayor alluded to the King’s message delivered by His Excellency and recorded in the “Standard, and mentioned that it was the wish of the Governor-General that his visit should be marked by a special holiday, the schools to break up for Easter on AVednesdav instead of Thursday evening. (Loud applause from the children.)

ADDRESS PRESENTED

His AVorship then presented ‘His Excellency with an illuminated address from the people of Palmerston North and in doing so said that it was the sincere wish of the residents of this town and of the whole of Now Zealand that Their Excellencies’ stay in this Dominion should be one of happiness and Iruitfulness and which they would bo able to happily regard in the years to come. Tho text of the address was as follows:

“We, the Mayor, councillors and citizens of the borough of Palmerston North in the Dominion of New Zealand, desire to extend to you a cordial welcome on the occasion of your first official visit, and at the same time to offer a hearty greeting to Lady Fergusson and family. We feel that yourself and Her Excellency. do not come amongst us as